87 Years and Still “Growing” Strong
87 Years and Still “Growing” Strong
by JohnTEMPLE
The electrical industry in Iowa and across the nation has undergone many changes in recent history, and 3E is no exception. But one thing that hasn’t changed is 3E’s commitment to customer service. 3E’s founder, J.M. Pilmer, started the company in 1920 as "Electrical Engineering & Contracting" with five employees and the goal of providing first class service to the electrical industry. Today, first class service is still what we strive to provide each and every day.
It has been six years since our corporate headquarters moved from downtown Des Moines to Windsor Heights. The new facility provides easier access for our customers, considerable logistical improvements, and much needed space for both inventory and offices. It took us a little while to get used to having our entire inventory in one building AND on one floor, but once we did, we were ready to grow. And grow we did! The last four years have seen record-setting growth for 3E, both in Des Moines and company wide. In fact, in the last 18 months, overall employment has gone up 20%.
3E began adding locations to better serve the Iowa market in 1995 with the addition of our Waterloo distribution facility. Since then, we’ve added distribution facilities in
Davenport (1997) and Burlington (2000). Now we are excited to announce the addition of two new distribution locations in Sioux City and Ottumwa. Each of these locations is
committed to the 3E principle of local inventory. To
demonstrate our commitment, we created our 777 Stock Guarantee. This is our assurance that our most popular 777 items will be in stock when you need them.
While we are excited about our new locations, we are equally committed to strengthening our technical expertise to meet our customer’s needs. Our dedicated specialists include lighting, power distribution, motor control, industrial OEM, value-add, panel building, data/communications, motor and apparatus repair, steel fabrication, stand by and emergency generators, UPS systems, safety machine guarding, and automation products and
applications.
We also continue to invest in the latest equipment and tools to better serve our customers. One example is our recent purchase at the Windsor Heights location of a new wire-reeling machine and reusable parallel wire reels. These reels and stands are an effective labor savings tool when installing multiple runs of cable.
What’s next?
That’s a question we get a lot. While we’re not ready to answer that
question just yet, you can be certain of one thing: we will
continue to strive to offer first class service to our existing customers, while at the same time exploring opportunities for growth.
